"And by their Means it becomes a delightful Store-house of the richest Truth and most valuable Knowledge."

Metaphor in Context

It is the Opinion of a late ingenious Philosopher of our own Nation, and I think mankind are generally come into the same Way of thinking, 'That the Soul of Man is at first but a Tabula rasa, a Kind of fair unwritten Paper, till it has received Impressions form without, and improved upon them by its Faculty of Reflection;' consequently that 'tis only Wisdom and Instruction, that fill it with fair and excellent Characters, that write Things upon it in their natural Shape and Order; that draw them to the Life, and in their true Colours and Postures, and describe upon it the greatest Concerns that are or have been in the World: And by their Means it becomes a delightful Store-house of the richest Truth and most valuable Knowledge.
(p. 14)

Bernard, Thomas. The advantages of learning. A sermon preached at Felstead-church in Essex, August 12th, 1736. On occasion of the annual meeting ... at the free-school there. By Thomas Bernard. London, 1736. Based on information from English Short Title Catalogue. Eighteenth Century Collections Online. Gale Group.http://galenet.galegroup.com/servlet/ECCO